Do you feel exhausted, tense and stressed? It could come from cortisol imbalance

Stress is a normal part of life. While everyone feels stressed sometimes, it shouldn’t affect your daily functioning. If you’re experiencing chronic stress and exhaustion that impacts your daily life, it may be a sign that something deeper is going on, such as cortisol imbalance.

Both high and low levels of cortisol, also known as the “stress hormone,” can leave you dealing with symptoms that leave you feeling “off” and unlike yourself. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to chart your body and better manage your stress levels. If you think you have a cortisol imbalance or are generally concerned about your health, be sure to consult a doctor before making drastic changes.

What is cortisol?

Cortisol is the body’s primary stress hormone, says Melissa Groves Azzaroa registered dietitian and author of A Balanced Approach to PCOS. The hormone is produced in the adrenal glands in response to internal or external stressors.

Most people know Cortisol for its role in the “fight or flight” response, which is important, but cortisol actually plays many roles. Other roles in the body.

In addition to slowing down bodily functions that are not essential in a fight or flight scenario, Cortisol also:

Most cells in your body contain cortisol receptors, making it an important hormone, but like any hormone, too much or too little can be harmful to your body and health.

Signs of a cortisol imbalance

Everyone’s experience with cortisol imbalance will differ, particularly when differentiating between high and low cortisol.

Symptoms of high cortisol include:

• Weight gain, especially in the abdominal area
• Anxiety and irritability
• Problems falling asleep and staying asleep
• Nervousness
• Shakakess
• High heart rate
• Blood sugar and blood pressure instability

Symptoms of low cortisol include:

• Low energy all day
• Feeling “wired but tired”
• Severe fatigue and lack of focus
• Sugar and salt cravings
• Apathy
• low libido
• memory problems

What causes a cortisol imbalance?

“In general, a cortisol imbalance can arise due to extremely high stress or prolonged stress,” says Azzarro. “Although there are clinical diagnoses of high (cushing syndrome) and bass (Addison’s disease), requiring medical treatment, there is a wide spectrum of ‘out of range’ cortisol levels or inappropriate cortisol patterns that can affect our daily lives.”

Importantly, cortisol imbalances are not always a simple matter of high or low. Having a cortisol imbalance can also mean that your cortisol is too high at certain times of the day or too low at other times, rather than a constant surplus or shortage.

Still, there are some common culprits behind cortisol imbalances of each type.

Stress

Excessive and prolonged stress is the main cause of cortisol imbalance, whether high or low.

“High cortisol occurs when the body perceives a stressor,” says Dr. Tara Scotta functional medicine doctor. “Your brain doesn’t know if you’re running from a bear or have a deadline at work.”

Excess cortisol increases your heart rate, makes you more alert by increasing norepinephrine (a neurotransmitter that can also make you feel anxious), and increases your blood sugar, explains Scott.

“Low cortisol occurs after prolonged stress, when your body sends a negative feedback signal to the brain saying, ‘We have a lot of cortisol down here, don’t stimulate more production!'” Scott says. Therefore, your brain decreases adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH, the hormone that stimulates cortisol production) and periods of low cortisol occur. Levels may fluctuate throughout the day or may be low all day, Scott says.

Exercise

Exercise is considered eustress, or good stress, Azzaro says, to a point. “While there is an immediate increase in cortisol with exercise, the overall impact is improved mood and reduced stress. excessive exercisestress becomes detrimental,” she says.

Azzaro recommends considering your overall life stress when planning an exercise regimen. If you’re not getting enough sleep and are struggling with high stress at work, it may not be the best time to incorporate high-intensity exercise, explains Azzaro.

“If you’re getting sick more often or feeling exhausted after a workout, rather than energized, you’re probably exercising too hard for your current cortisol levels,” she says.

Nutrition

The foods we eat can help reduce cortisol or increase it, says Lauren Minchen, a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant for freshbit. “Processed foods that are high in carbs and sugar may immediately help cortisol at first, but the blood sugar spike caused by these foods can actually, over time, increase stress, inflammation, and inflammation.” cortisol levels in the body,” says Minchen.

“Sugar is known to be one of the biggest cortisol triggers, and refined white flour foods produce a similar blood sugar effect and cortisol effect, so eating foods rich in these ingredients regularly can lead to elevated cortisol over time.

Alcohol and caffeine It also impacts your cortisol levels and consuming too much of one or both over time impacts your cortisol levels. Alcohol increases inflammation, which puts stress on the body, triggering the production of cortisol. Withdrawal from intoxication also stimulates more cortisol into the bloodstream, Minchen says.

“Depending on how much coffee you drink regularly and how high your cortisol levels are day to day, increasing your caffeine intake may have little or no effect on raising cortisol even higher,” says Minchen. “This effect can lead to feeling more tired with more caffeine, due to exhaustion of the adrenal gland. The adrenals can only work so hard before they can no longer increase cortisol production.”

On the other hand, eating healthy carbohydrates, such as whole grains, fresh fruit, legumes and potatoes, can provide help with cortisol management. Additionally, consuming a balanced amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats It helps your body receive the energy it needs to keep blood sugar available and stable, which ultimately helps keep cortisol in check, Minchen says.

How to fix high or low cortisol levels

“It’s not super sexy,” says Azzaro, “but your body is telling you to rest. The dirty work of correcting a cortisol imbalance is identifying what the root cause of the imbalance is and then correcting that to bring cortisol back into balance.”

We discussed the general causes of cortisol imbalance above, but dig deeper. Skip the “diet” or “exercise” and ask yourself if your hormone levels are crazy because of:

• Your work
• Relationship stress (couple or family)
• Hustle/doing too much culture
• lack of sleep
• Too much of one type of exercise (probably hiit)
• Alcohol or caffeine consumption
• Lack of mindfulness or stress management

Additionally, it’s important to identify your specific imbalance, says Inna Melameda pharmaceutical and functional medicine doctor. Ask your primary care provider if they perform hormone testing or if they can get you a referral to an endocrine specialist. Or order a cortisol test online to take at home and send to a lab.

This step is crucial because what works to correct high cortisol may not work to correct low cortisol. To really get to the root cause, “testing should ideally be for both cortisol, DHEAsex hormones and even melatonin just to see a better picture of adrenal health,” says Melamed. Your symptoms could be the product of multiple hormonal imbalances.

Fixing a cortisol imbalance will take a lot of work and patience. First of all, get some rest. When you feel rested, try making a list of all the possible stressors in your life, and be honest.

Then, write down how you could reduce each stressor. Maybe reduce your weekly training routine from five sessions to four; Maybe have a serious conversation with your partner about stress levels and household responsibilities; Maybe ask your boss to lighten your load at work for a while (or even better, take some time off altogether).

High or low cortisol levels can make life much more difficult than it should be. Fighting constant stress, anxiety and fatigue is not easy, and as always, if you need mental health support, Use the resources available to you.